NATO member-states unwilling or unable to help boost the military spending are being accused of ignoring the “Russian threat,” that has re-emerged as the core of the alliance’s agenda to boost arms sales.

A report saying one of major NATO funding contributors, the UK,
could fail to fulfil the commitment to spend 2 percent of its GDP
on the alliance in 2015 came as a bombshell for some of the
West’s military elite.

The head of the US army, General Raymond Odierno, told the
Telegraph he was “very concerned” about Britain’s
possible defense cuts.

“[Odierno] warned that, while the US was willing to provide
leadership in tackling future threats, such as Russia and ISIL
[the Islamic State, aka IS or ISIS], it was essential that allies
such as Britain played their part,” the British daily wrote.

Former MI6 chief, Sir John Sawers, called for a rise in defense
spending, also mentioning the “threat” coming out of
Russia “not necessarily directly to the UK, but to countries
around its periphery.”

“The level of threat posed by Moscow has increased and we
have to be prepared to take the defensive measures necessary to
defend ourselves, defend our allies - which now extend as far as
the Baltic States and Central Europe,” Sawers said,
according to the Guardian.

In turn, Moscow said it will take all “necessary
measures” including military, technical and political to
neutralize a possible threat from NATO presence in Eastern
Europe, Russia's ambassador to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko, told the
Rossiya 24 TV channel on Monday. He added NATO’s actions
“significantly impair regional and European security, and
pose risks to our security.”

Grushko said NATO has intensified its military drills in Eastern
Europe, with about 200 exercises in its eastern member states,
mostly in the Baltic and Black seas, Poland and Baltic states.

Russia's Defense Ministry has consistently denied all reports of
its personnel or hardware being involved in the conflict in
eastern Ukraine, calling NATO's allegations
“groundless.”

Among “proof” of the “Russian aggression” there
have been fake photos of the Russian tanks, which eventually
turned out to have been taken in a different place at a different
time, a supposed Russian airplane in British airspace, that
turned out to be Latvian, and mysterious “Russian
submarines” in Swedish waters - which never were found.

“Demonizing” Russia plays well into the hands of the
military, believes former NATO intelligence analyst, Lt Cdr
Martin Packard.

“I think this is a period when everybody is trying to get
more money out of their exchequers for upping the
rearmament,” Packard told RT’s ‘In the Now’. “So that
seems to be so in Britain, probably in America too. Military
forces in a way need to have an enemy. It suits them to have an
enemy.”

Germany does not feel like increasing the military budget at any
cost. Minister of Finance, Wolfgang Schäuble, has recently agreed
there was a need to spend more on defense, but said that Berlin
was not going to do it at least before 2017, Bild am Sonntag
reported.

Germany has earlier voiced its concern over increasing defense
spending to 2 percent of GDP.

"Germany believes that the 2 percent requirement is
unsuitable as an assessment criterion to determine the loyalty of
a member state to the alliance,” a German Defense Ministry
spokesman said in the wake of NATO’s September summit in Wales.
“We should talk less about percentages of defense budgets and
more about smart ways to obtain better capabilities."

Together with Italy and Canada, Germany is expected to spend $5.7
billion less on defense in 2015 than in 2014, according to a
report by the defense and security think tank, European
Leadership Network (ELN).

Following talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on
Monday, French President Francois Hollande said Paris currently
opposes NATO’s expansion.

While bigger NATO members are being frugal in their defense
spending, seven smaller ones are significantly boosting military
capabilities.

The three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are in
the avant-garde. Others include the Netherlands, Norway, Poland
and Romania.

The ELN report reveals that Estonia is the only country after the
US to meet the NATO target of spending 2 percent of GDP on the
military. Lithuania meanwhile will see a sharp one-third rise in
its defense budget.

All of the Baltic States have big contracts for purchasing
weapons from their richer NATO allies.

Estonia recently negotiated acquisition of the $55 million
Javelin anti-tank missile system. It has also signed what’s been
described as “the largest procurement contract ever" for
purchasing 44 infantry combat vehicles worth €138 million ($154
million) from the Netherlands.

Latvia is splashing out more than €54 million ($60 million) on a
package that includes 123 British combat vehicles. Lithuania
bought a €34 million ($38 million) GROM air defense system from
Poland in September.

NATO’s rhetoric is not in the least dictated by big business,
according to News Junkie Post Editor-in-Chief Gilbert Mercier.

“They are going to increase their military spending and
that’s precisely the idea,” Mercier told RT. “There’s a
minimum that you’re supposed to spend when you are a NATO member,
which is 2 percent of your [GDP]. They will start getting into
that level and increasing it. The idea is for a NATO country to
buy US military gear, if possible or manufacture their own, but
preferably buy F-15s or F-16s. It’s always about money, always
about profit.”